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The Terminator
The Terminator is a 1984 American action movie, directed by James Cameron. It is the first work in the Terminator trilogy and the first film of the movie series. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton, with Lance Henriksen, Paul Winfield, and Earl Boen in supporting roles. The first sequel, ''Terminator 2: Judgement Day'' was released in 1991, and the second sequel, Terminator: Salvation, was released in 2000. Synopsis In 1984, a waitress named Sarah Connor is being hunted by a seemingly indestructible android from the near future. Meanwhile, a soldier named Kyle Reese has also been sent back in time to protect her against the android at all costs, and make sure she lives to give birth to her son, who will one day lead humanity in a war against the machines. Plot The film opens with the depiction of the year 2029—a possible future where mankind has been oppressed by artificially intelligent machines, lead by the rebellious computer system Skynet. This computer became sentient and started a nuclear war by hijacking control of the United States' nuclear arsenal, launching the ICBM's in a devastating attempt to annihilate humanity. Subsequently, a post-apocalyptic war is raged in the future, where a small Resistancegroup of free humans try to win back their planet and survive the machine onslaught, lead by the heroic, influential General John Connor. Connor is the man responsible for the creation of the human resistance, and credited with rescuing mankind from extinction by rallying survivors to combat Skynet's forces. A scroll appears on the screen, stating "The machines rose from the ashes of the nuclear fire. Their war to exterminate mankind had raged on for decades. But the final battle will not be fought in the future. It would be fought in our present...tonight." Though the year is not specifically mentioned, the "present day" of the movie starts in the year 1984, Los Angeles, and introduces the arrival of the Terminator, a Series 800 Model 101 Infiltrator unit sent back in time by Skynet to assassinate Sarah Connor, mother of the future savior of mankind (and Skynet's greatest enemy), before he is conceived by an unknown father the following year. Since the time machine Skynet uses is only capable of sending organic matter (clothes, weapons, etc. can't be sent back), any being using the time machine must travel nude. The cyborgassassin, able to travel due to being covered by living organic skin that protects the robotic metal endoskeleton combat chassis, must also abide by these rules and arrives nude as well. The T-800, knowing it must wear clothes to maintain cover and infiltrate modern society, confronts the first people it meets that have compatible clothing sizes. In this case, they are three punk rockers drinking by a observation telescope at Griffith Observatory. The T-800 approaches them and, after some verbal sparing, demands their clothing. The punks (played by Bill Paxton, Brian Thompson and Brad Rearden) refuse, one pulling a switchblade. The T-800 proceeds to knock the knife-wielding punk unconscious, then uses its bare hand to remove the heart of the second punk by punching through the flesh below the ribcage so violently that it lifts the second punk a foot off the ground. The third punk, having just seen his two friends so easily dismissed by what appears to be a nude, muscle-bound psychopath, begins to strip and offer his clothes to the Terminator. After stealing a large amount of deadly weaponry from the Alamo Sports Shop, the T-800 begins to systematically hunt down and shoot every person listed as "Sarah Connor" in the phone book, in alphabetical order, to guarantee no mistakes with identity. Meanwhile, in another part of Los Angeles, human resistance soldier Kyle Reesehas arrived through time as well, tasked with protecting John Connor's mother from the Terminator, which was sent back as a last-second act of desperation by Skynet to eliminate its enemy's entire existence. He steals clothes from a homeless man and a shotgun from an unattended police vehicle. The Terminator's systematic murder of the first two “Sarah Connors” draws media attention, and the attention of police Lt. Ed Traxler (Paul Winfield), and detective Hal Vukovich (Lance Henriksen). The remaining Sarah Connor, a hapless 19-year-old waitress with a dull life, who lives with her best friend and roommate Ginger Ventura, finds out about the other two Sarah Connor murders on television. Worried by the name connection, and noticing that she is being followed (by her unknown protector, Kyle Reese), she takes shelter in a local club called TechNoir, where she calls police for protection. While there, the Terminator and Reese both arrive to acquire her. Reese, not knowing what the Terminator looks like, has to wait for it to make a move before he is able to intervene and save Sarah from the Terminator. The Terminator and Reese wreak havoc at the disco in their ensuing firefight, The Terminator killing six people in the process. Reese empties his stolen police shotgun into the Terminator's chest, knocking it into a reboot cycle. He then grabs Sarah and they both flee in a stolen vehicle while the Terminator pursues in a hijacked police car. While fleeing, Kyle tells the terrified Sarah what is going on, to her initial disbelief. After an intense shootout between Reese and the attacking Terminator, the police arrive and arrest Reese and Sarah and bring them to West-Island police station. The Terminator escapes unseen, and breaks into a hotel room to perform self-repairs on its damaged eye and right arm, having to cover the damage with sunglasses. At the police station, Sarah is reassured and interviewed by criminal psychologist Peter Silberman, who believes that Reese is insane; delusional; a "loon." Reese's claims about the future and the advanced robot's mission are dismissed as those of a raving lunatic; clearly someone suffering from psychotic delusions. The police also have "logical explanations" about the Terminator; they think he survived several bullets with a bullet-proof vest and that when he smashed through a windshield with his bare hand, he must have broken every bone in his arm. However, mere minutes later, the Terminator arrives at the station, and when denied access to see Sarah, casually utters to the desk sergeant "I'll be back", before driving a car directly into the lobby, destroying the lobby and killing the desk sergeant. The machine, now heavily armed with an AR-18 carbine and a SPAS-12 shotgun, begins a one-man massacre on the station, killing 17 police officers in its determined search, causing a power outage, setting a fire, and greatly damaging the building in the shootout. Part of the station eventually collapses. Reese and Sarah are able to escape once again, and go into hiding in a cave. They then rent a free room at the Tiki Motel, where Reese begins teaching Sarah how to build homemade explosives. During their night at the motel, Sarah and Reese discuss their feelings, where Sarah expresses her disbelief and feeling of shame at being the mother of mankind's only hope. She doubts Reese's account of Sarah being thought of as a legendary warrior in his future, and says he must be disappointed. He quietly denies this, saying that he was given a picture of Sarah by Connor himself for good luck, and that he fell deeply in love with the woman in the photo. Admitting his passionate feelings for Sarah, who is deeply touched, Kyle thinks he has made a fool of himself and tries to retain his cool stature stating that he shouldn't have said it; but Sarah reciprocates his desire, and the two start to kiss and have intimate sex. Later, as Sarah and Kyle get dressed, they hear the sound of barking dogs; the Terminator has found them. Sarah and Reese flee in a truck as the T-800 chases them on a motorcycle through a tunnel. During this chase Kyle is mortally wounded by a gun shot from the Terminator while throwing the homemade pipe bombs at T-800. In a rage, Sarah rams the motorcycle, causing both her and the machine to violently crash. The T-800 commandeers a massive tanker truck after killing the driver, shoos the terrified passenger, and tries to drive over Sarah, while the injured Reese inserts a pipe bomb into the exhaust of the vehicle. The resulting explosion destroys the tanker, and the Terminator limps through the rubble as its synthetic human flesh covering completely burns away, revealing the gleaming metal cyborg endoskeleton beneath. The monstrous cyborg continues to chase Sarah and Reese on foot into a hydraulics facility (revealed in a deleted scene to be a Cyberdyne/Cyberdyne Systems facility), where Reese, in a valiant effort to stop the machine, first strikes it with a metal bar, receiving more fatal blows as the machine retaliates with a back-handed swipe. Kyle manages to blow apart the robot's torso by inserting another homemade pipe bomb among the hydraulic components in the abdomen, destroying the lower half and unintentionally killing himself and injuring Sarah in the leg due to debris from the blast. The T-800's upper torso is still operational, and begins to crawl after Sarah, who was hampered by her injured leg. She climbs behind a metal slide-gate, while the Terminator tries to reach its arm through the bars in order to strangle her. With the T-800 distracted, Sarah then presses the button—we learn that she has lured the machine under a 1000-ton hydraulic press. As she reaches for the start button, Sarah taunts the Terminator with a profanity, then presses it. The Terminator is crushed to oblivion by the press, which applies 1000 tons of pressure to crush the Terminator, and Sarah's life is saved. The scene then jumps forward, showing the aftermath of the film's events. Sarah is now several months pregnant with a boy, revealing the movie's twist: by sending back a protector for his mother, John Connor actually inadvertently created his own existence. In their one-night stand together, Reese had conceived a child with Sarah, paradoxically becoming John's father. She acknowledges this during a recording she has taped, which she will later give to her son when he has reached the proper age. Sarah then stops at a gas station in Mexico on November 10, 1984 (she has now become a fugitive from society), where she has a photograph taken of herself before departing. In a final twist of fate, the audience sees that this is exactly the same picture that Kyle Reese carries in the future. Sarah then drives off into the distance to train her son in preparation for his destiny. In the distance, storms are approaching over the mountains. The end credits start to roll as her Jeep disappears. Cast * Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, the Terminator's target who is soon to be the mother of the future Resistance leader John Connor. * Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese, a human Resistance fighter sent back in time to protect Sarah. * Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800, a cybernetic android disguised as a human that is sent back in time to assassinate Sarah Connor. * Paul Winfield as Ed Traxler, a police Lieutenant who questions Sarah. * Lance Henriksen as Hal Vukovich, a police Sergeant who questions Sarah. * Earl Boen as Dr. Peter Silberman, a criminal psychologist. * Bess Motta as Ginger Ventura, Sarah's roommate. * Rick Rossovich as Matt Buchanan, Ginger's boyfriend. Category:Movies